How do I include an image without uploading it to Davis Wiki?

To include an offsite image simply paste in the url of the photo. So if the photo was located at http://wherethepictureis.com/thepicture.jpg you would just paste http://wherethepictureis.com/thepicture.jpg into the page. The wiki sees that it's an external link and then sees that it's an image, so it displays it.

When should I do this?

Do this when you don't really think the image needs to be in the Davis Wiki. Uploading an image (By clicking on Images in edit and then including attachment:thefilename in the page's text) is preferred most of the time. When you upload an image it will be here for years to come, whereas if you just link to it (by pasting the URL) then it will likely disappear in a few years. An example might be a photograph that's very personal (for your page on here). Again, for most cases, uploading is preferable.

Can I link to a certain part of a page? For instance, Coffee/Cafes on the Restaurants page?

How was DavisWiki created? How could I create a similar Wiki for my home city?

How do I attach images to a page?

When you go into the Edit tab for a page, click the "Files" button. This will give you some instructions on uploading an image and putting it inside of the page (under "How do I do this?"). Just remember to add the "[[Image(filename)]]" line to the page's text where you wish for the image to appear, where filename includes the extension of the file. This means if I upload mypicture.jpg I would put the line "[[Image(mypicture.jpg)]]" where I wanted that picture, or if it was mybirthday.gif it would be "[[Image(mybirthday.gif)]]".

How do I see which pictures are on a page?

By going into "Images" in the Edit tab you may see the pictures attached to the page already and choose to view them and manage them ("del", if you have the privileges, deletes the picture).

Can I see which pages link to a particular page?

Where can I find out geeky things about this site?

My image looks horrible with a border, is there a way to remove it?

In the event your image looks bad with a border, you can use the markup "borderless:myimage.png" in place of "attachment:myimage.png" and that will remove the default border. In most every case an image looks good with a border (especially in the case of photographs), so keep this in mind.

How do I force a one-lined return?

[[BR]] will force a single-return. Normally, just put two returns between blocks of text. It's more readable that way. Sometimes you need to use [[BR]] for pretty looking layout, such as in a table (which don't yet support returns properly). Most of the time, when people write things like:

something

another thing

another thing

They are really making a list of items. In these cases you should make a list. See Help with Lists.

How do I rename a page?

Go into Edit and click "Rename". Links to the old name will automatically redirect to the new page.

I made a page about myself, my business, and/or my organization, but someone keeps editing it! How do I get them to stop messing with my page?

Sorry, but you can't. This isn't a personal web hosting service, nor is it a venue for advertisement. A page may contain information about you or your organization/business, but it's not your page and may be changed by anyone else at any time.

As it says on the "Edit" page immediately below the "Preview", "Save Changes", and similar buttons, by contributing to the Davis Wiki you agree to release your contributions according to a Creative Commons license that allows anyone to make derivative works, as long as prior contributions are properly attributed. Fortunately for us all, the wiki automatically maintains a list of all prior contributions - see the "Info" button on any given page.

Wiki social norms and wiki ethics influence the way we edit as a community, but fundamentally no page is immune from having multiple people edit it. This liberal editing policy helped the Davis Wiki build substance, and it continues to help the site remain a high-quality and relevant resource for its intended audience - the community of Davis.

How can I embed HTML code so that a video, for example, will play on a page?

Short answer: You can't. Long answer: You'd have to code a python module for Sycamore, the software that runs wiki spot. Hopeful answer: I know people have been working on this (embedding video, that is, not embedding html, which is a rather horrific security nightmare and makes it difficult for editors who don't want to have to learn html to edit entries). It is on the way, but see the long answer for a way to get it there more quickly. ;) —JabberWokky

How Do I see others' contact information (i.e. email)?

Short answer: You can't. Post a comment on their user page and they will see a notification message when they visit again.

Long answer: You can't. We don't want to help spammers out by releasing private data, and so we won't release this information beyond Wiki Spot administrators. Only the few Wiki Spot administrators with database access can even view this information (so they can assist editors in special circumstances). The editors themselves can post their own information on their userpage though, thus making it public information.

Why is the time in the Wiki wrong ?

The "recent changes" page shows any change beyond 4pm as belonging to the following day. Could the Wiki time be set by GMT ?

Go to your User Settings page and set the time zone to the one you live in.

Can you set up a button to do the timestamp at the beginning of a comment, the same way there is a signature button?

I don't comment very often, so I can never remember how to add the timestamp at the beginning. The explanation is difficult (impossible?) to find in the editing guide. It would be so nice to just have a button that did this.

The signature and timestamp are added when you add a comment using the [[comment]]macro... any entry that has the macro provides a form that automatically timestamps and signs the comment.

Somehow in adding information to the Music Instruction page, the formatting for the whole page got screwed up. Help!

New Comments

Don't know what's going on? Just type it in this box and hit enter!

2005-08-30 14:38:36 How do I make my Bookmarks page list the pages by what's been recently changed and not in alphabetical order? i.e. like my very own "Recent Changes" page...? —IrenePark

That function isn't there..yet. What's recently changed that you haven't yet looked at is in bold. Aside from that, it's alphabetical. Would it be good to also have a recent-changes-esque toggle?

I guess I'd like a way of checking out the recent-changes to the pages that I personally have edited. Currently I hit the Recent Changes page and scroll down to the ones I remember editing and checking what the next person has done. While using this method I also find other recently changed pages to check out and edit, but ideally I'd like to see the ones I've done already to see if maybe there is a better way of wording or organizing something. Like a way of automatically bookmarking pages I've edited (with the ability to remove them), and a way to toggle by date or name? Or am I asking for too much? ;) —IrenePark

2005-09-05 16:05:24 Considering the creation of the MindyYang page versus its prominence on the Wanted Pages... can we filter out individual names in the Wanted Pages box? Since individual pages are... usually up to the individual. Or rather, have a separate box below names of individuals, but leave the main box on top for people to create pages of such Davis things as organizations, shops, events, etc... —IrenePark

2005-10-14 08:22:08 I can't find any reference to color attributes (other than bgcolor). What about fgcolor, textcolor, etc? —SteveDavison

2006-01-15 16:28:07 How do I copy from a non-Wiki document (e.g., Word file) and paste into Wiki?? —DaleSorbello

2006-02-17 09:36:40 What are the commands for text alignment besides centering? —TusharRawat

2006-04-03 11:20:59 I do marketing for Campus Events at UC Davis- would it be possible to use the photos posted on daviswiki for various marketing projects- or would their be copywrite/ownership issues? —KellyHarris

2006-06-22 01:10:41 I was trying to add my pet through the animal template to the wiki animal list, but I screwed up and deleted the template. Can the pet template be restored? Also, how do I link my pet template page to the wiki animal page? I am very sorry about this mistake. The template was great... —ChingChing

I restored the template. No worries. To use the pet template to create your pet's page, you can follow these steps: 1. Search for your pet's name; 2. Click on "create a new page with this title" in the blue-grey box; 3. Click on Create as Pet; 4. Edit away! Then simply edit the Wiki Animals page to add in your pet. The templates are just ideas about how to start a page, so you can be as creative as you like! Have fun, and welcome to the Wiki! —TomNelson

2006-07-14 13:54:06 What happens when one page seems to have become a battleground between the subject of the page and someone who seems determined to paint that person in a very negative light and continually adds negative text to the page? —BevSykes

From what I've observed, unfounded personal attacks aren't tolerated, and could result in the community voting to ban the user (such things have come close in the past). However negative statements on a public entry about a person (as opposed to a user's personal page) aren't necessarily bad unless they are clearly false. For instance, there have been rumors of rape against Sigma Chi. While the group (for obvious reasons) did not want the information on their entry, the fact that the rumors themselves exist is an important piece of information. The fact that the rumors appear (to date) to be unfounded is also important. Basically, negative information isn't bad, but personal or unfounded attacks are. Supporters (of the person or group) can always answer negative allegations. Often when there's a furor, deleting builds more anger (since neither side thinks their viewpoint is being presented), and adding more information on both sides helps appease (since both sides get their say). —jw

I just wanted to note that /Talk pages are for clearing up and debating content on the regular page. They're temporary and will be deleted after the debate is settled, for the most part. —PhilipNeustrom

2006-07-30 12:41:48 Is there a way to rename images that have already been uploaded for a page? The images on the "WPA" page need to be renamed (to get rid of the ampersand in the filenames that is causing link problems). —MattJurach

There's no way to easily rename the images. But what you're seeing is a bug. Thanks for bringing it up (easy fix). —PhilipNeustrom

2006-08-25 18:21:38 How do I add my comments to a conversation? —KarenKane

Just hit "Edit", located at the top and bottom of every page. You must be logged in to do so.

2006-09-13 Updated. It should be working for Fall 2006 now. —PhilipNeustrom

2006-11-18 08:41:26 has there ever been any consideration to a rating system on wiki?? I would like help implement a star rating system for businesses .. ie car shops, restaurants.. etc... —VinhBoy

2007-04-17 21:31:11 I want to put restaurant reviews (some longish) on my personal page. Someone suggested that I also include them in the comments for each restaurant. I started to do that... but then I had the thought that it might be wrong to have the same content repeated in different places on the wiki. Thoughts? —CovertProfessor

Maybe you can include a link to your review on the page. You can also use subpages — something like Users/CovertProfessor/Reviews — to keep things from making your user page too big. If it's a couple paragraphs or less, you can include your review on the restaurant page too. Keep in mind that this is only one person's opinion, so do whatever seems the most organized to you. —BrentLaabs

It would admittedly be inefficient, but yeah, review page and maybe some anchored links (they are complicated sadly) eh, it doesn't hurt to have redundancy and copies on the wiki, it serves a point I imagine, and there is plenty of room on the system. ~DavidPoole

I may want move to having a separate "review page" if things get too unwieldly... but it seems to me that no one would bother to click on link to a review when there are so many other reviews on a page — I know that I wouldn't. So far, I'm not hearing any objection to having the same content appear in two places, so maybe it's a non-issue? —CovertProfessor

I'd say it's perfectly fine. I also don't think you'd be the first, as I seem to recall a year or two ago somebody was duplicating all her (or his) reviews on their personal page just for their own use. —JabberWokky

The only issue I can see with duplicated content is that edits to the content in one place aren't automatically synched to the content in the other place. However, you're the only person who should be editing your reviews, so if you don't mind keeping them synched, there is no problem. —WilliamLewis

Hmmm.... it would certainly be nice if clicking on one person's review opened up a page containing all their reviews in a list. Until that feature gets invented, I don't see a problem with duplicate content between a user page and a restaurant page. The important things is that the restaurant page's get altered because that's where your comment will have the most visibility. It's also the best way to "advertise" your own page. —CraigBrozinsky

That would be a cool feature, but it sounds complicated to implement. Ok, I think I've got enough consensus to go ahead; I can always cease and desist later if necessary. And I'll do my best to keep things updated. Thanks to everyone for your input. —CovertProfessor

2007-04-19 18:47:56 how do you put an image that allready exists on wiki on another page. The typical image code does not work for images that are not stored somewhere on your computer. visit CLIMB to see what im talking about. —MattHh

If I'm understanding your question, the way to do it is to download the image to your computer and then upload it to the other page. —PhilipNeustrom

2007-05-01 11:48:30 what happened to the java davis map button on each page? —CarlosBarahona

2007-06-01 18:51:56 How do I comment on a business if the business is not listed in Davis Wiki? —grtrapp

Create a page for the business first by searching for the full name in proper upper and lower case. The wiki will ask you if you want to create a page with that name. You can select the Business Template and fill it in and then add your comment. —JasonAller

2007-07-22 19:57:04 A friend of mine recently went to check a page in the Davis wiki and accidentally typed in http://www.daviswiki.com — which redirects to californiagetaway.org. Pretty sleazy, I think — is there anything we can do about it? I imagine not, but I thought I'd point it out in case other people didn't know about it already. —CovertProfessor

We use the name "DavisWiki" and thus own a trademark to the name, although it isn't registered. We could file a case with ICANN to get the name as it infringes on our trademark and the owner of daviswiki.com isn't using it for any legitimate purpose. However, it's a pain in the butt to pull off. —WilliamLewis

Registering the trademark would do the trick. Trademark registration costs $270 or so, and I don't personally have the $ to spare for it at the moment (it's fairly non-essential). DavidPoole and I registered the Wiki Spot mark (mark status hasn't been granted yet), so I am somewhat familiar with what is involved. —PhilipNeustrom

2007-07-25 15:37:37 I just tried adding a comment and got a message that I can only add comments up to 1000 characters. I've written longer comments than that in the past. Is this a change in policy? I've searched around and can't find anything about it. Thanks. —SteveGreen

It's not so much a policy as a technical limitation. There's the obvious workaround though — just edit the page, write the comment, and sign your name at the bottom. I'm not sure — Philip, could we go to 2000 characters? I've hit the limit myself a couple times. —BrentLaabs

2007-08-26 15:35:46 Why is port 80 blocked for SSL connections on this wiki? When I'm surfing using my cell phone it proxies everything through port 8080 and the system won't let me log in (hence the SSL problem). Any bright ideas? —MistressAlthaea

Please see the entry under Friends of West Pond. It's a Wiki Spot now, and we want it to be in Davis Wiki and linked to/from the West Pond entry. How do we do this (in plain English, please). J E Ryan

Howdy! It looks like you accidentally created a wiki entry at wikispot instead of DavisWiki. It's very easy to move it, and I'd be happy to (you have to copy and paste the entry, deleting the old location). Now that it is moved, it can be found right here. — Evan 'JabberWokky' Edwards

I dimwittedly disabled the account I have been using and cannot login again under the same user account. Is it possible to recover the account? Is the effort of recovering the account worth it? Or, perhaps I will just edit under this new account and claim to have a good reason to not edit under my own name... —il

2008-08-19 22:03:59 Is there a page to ask any question about UC Davis? —ThanhVu

As a business owner who feels there is some unfair text in the business description how can i go about having that changed? I have tried several times in the editing function and some stick and some do not. I understand comments are not able to be edited, however as a local business owner I would think opinions and other nonfactual critiques would be left out of the blurb about the business. Any tips for successful editing would be appreciated. Thank you.

2009-05-08 17:20:07 arrgh. I screwed up the Templates/Person. Will you please restore it? Sorry :( —MaggeSanger

Done. You can always undo any edit — yours or anyone else's — by clicking the "Info" icon, finding the last version that was correct, and clicking "Revert". —Evan 'JabberWokky' Edwards

How do I correct an Events Board listing? I made a mistake with my event posting for "Midnight Splash" at Rec Pool. It's on August 14, not September 14.

2009-08-02 19:32:39 I have created a page on a topic that is generating a lot of discussion. I'd like to start a "Talk" page under this topic, and move the comments already made by various folks so far from the basic information page to the Talk page. Is there any particular protocol for doing this, besides manually cutting-pasting in the "Edit" forms on the existing and new pages?

Also I would like to reply to earlier comments (not the most recent one), and would like my replies to appear in the threaded conversation format. To do the latter, do I have to manually edit the page and place my comment beginning with a space and asterisk under the one I'm following up, instead of simply clicking the "Add Comment" button? —RussellReagan

Don't start a talk page. Most of the time, discussions belong on the original page, as they can offer up as much insight as the original page. And to reply to discussion threads, you either have to manually edit the page or use Quick Edit after the paragraph you want (using space-*-space either way). —BrentLaabs

To clarify, Talk pages on Davis Wiki are typically used for "meta-discussions", in other words, talking about editing that entry, not about the actual subject of the entry itself. A few discussions have grown to spawn new entries, but that's different than a Talk page. Like pretty much everything, there are guidelines and traditions, but no real hard and fast "LAWS OF THE WIKI"... what entry are you talking about? —gnomeEvan 'JabberWokky' Edwards

2010-02-25 00:59:28 There needs to be a Davis Issues section on the front page. I very much like the Featured Page, but something simple with say the latest 20 issue links to their pages and a link to old issues would be great. Since the Davis Wiki is a community site it would make sense to have something with current issues going on and just have links like the Explore section has. For example, say a high amount of lead was found in the Davis drinking water and users created a page talking about the issue, what's going on, who does what at the city, history of water issues in Davis, etc. A link to "Lead In Davis Drinking Water" would be in this section of issues and visitors could quickly see what is going on. I believe this would be a great benefit to Wiki visitors and the Davis community in general. —RiotInDavis

I like this idea. Do you have a set of some example initial issue pages that could be included in such a list? The school noise thing is one. —PhilipNeustrom

Various controversies w/the City Council, especially the latest dustup with Ruth and Sue is another. And the 5th Street bike lane redesign. Fireplaces. Funding for the UC. Revisiting Measure J. Some of these have pages, some of them need them. —CovertProfessor

probably need two more for this to be a good section. We can always try it out for a bit and if it doesn't work ditch it.

2010-02-27 12:31:41 Probably need to think about some sort of way of moving issues between current and archived, but with a way to denote those that are likely to recur like voting about widening the Richards Boulevard underpass which has happened four times already and will likely be an issue again in the future. Some sort of timeline would be nice that could capture the overlap and lifespan of these issues.

I don't think the /Past page is needed right now. We'll hopefully improve this down the line, but right now it's overkill (and duplicates Timeline, really). Links to some current issues related pages is, for now, sufficient I think. —PhilipNeustrom

Question: Any possibility the sort order of entries could be most recent first? I don't know about everyone else, but the first thing I do on most pages (particularly reviews of businesses and services, which is my primary use of this wiki) is hit the "End" button. For lots of topics, the state of things in 2006 is a lot less relevant than what's going on now.

2010-08-22 13:15:50 Why doesn't the "Search" box (top of each wiki page) allow partial string searches? Am I the only one who wanted to find the page for "Cafe Mediterranee" and was not sure how to spell it, didn't feel like trying to spell out the whole name, or just didn't bother trying to find the page for it because of this problem? The trick I used to find it without typing the name was to go to the page on D Street, and find a link to it from there. Of course I happened to know that's the street it's on. Someone else wanting to find out its location might know only the partial spelling of the name. —RussellReagan

It does sort of have partial word matches, like medit matches meditation so maybe there is some setting or it has an index of word stems or something that doesn't include mediterr or something like that. I think to do an index of every possible partial word combination would be gigantic and to do a full text search without indexes would take a long time, so indexing the stems seems like a practical approach. -NickSchmalenberger

Interesting, now I seem to have somehow added mediterr to the index with this reply to you (maybe because i used mediterr by itself?), but it still doesn't match the actual page. Maybe its because title matches don't have stemming, and/or the page text uses it with accents? I really don't know. -NickSchmalenberger

2010-09-06 17:12:35 BRÜBAR Energy Bars is a new company that just launched here in Davis on the Fourth of July. So far, we have been building our buzz by sponsoring some local events (the Fourth of July Davis Criterium Bike Race and the Oddfellow's 'World's Greatest Bicycle Parade') and via our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/brubar). But we're curious as to whether the Davis Wiki is a possible place to promote our energy bar. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! —christiandsouza

Speaking without any authority and just as a fellow editor: It would be great to have a BRÜBAR page on the wiki that talked about which events it's been featured at and which stores it's available at (coming soon to Davis stores, I see from the Facebook page!) However, you should understand that the page would belong to the Davis community and not to you — which means that it would need to be informational and not promotional, and that other editors would edit the page along with you. Also, people who have tried your bars may come along and describe their experiences with BRÜBAR, good and bad. As long as you understand that, everything should go fine. Welcome to the wiki/Business Owner is a good resource that talks about these issues in more detail. So, welcome to the wiki! I've been looking forward to trying my first BRÜBAR and I'm excited to see a locally produced energy bar that is made of food rather than chemicals. —CovertProfessor

2010-12-25 23:05:10 It looked like I edited a couple of Wiki Spot pages, but the changes weren't made. What's going on? —BruceHansen

2011-07-09 17:21:53 Is there a way to back up a wiki so information doesn't get accidentally (or maliciously) deleted? Or do I have to copy paste everything to words docs? —kayhale

2011-12-11 12:25:06 Good day,

I am like you a user of free hosting wikispot.org I write with a friendly request to specify how you managed to do a custom domain settings for your wiki.

My custom domain is not working — I checked several times the recommended site configuration through a support service provider of my domain, but the fact that I constantly find myself at home instead of my wiki

I am grateful for the help and advice you may know what is the nuances of setting

Hey, no problem. Wiki Spot actually grew out of Davis Wiki. There's a bit of setup on the server end that needs to be done. Have you already asked for that? Feel free to email me, and I'll help walk you through the process. —Evan 'JabberWokky' Edwards, jw.dw@timewarp.org (Emailed him with links and directions)

Hello, I manage the Academy Lane Apartments (Previously called Americana Arms) I am assuming I need to change that name/info and not create a new page... and I need help :) Thank you!

Just make a new page with the new name, and make the old one reference it for historical purposes ~SD

2013-04-06 13:55:35 My page doesn't have a Comment box at the bottom. How do I make that happen? Thanks! Laurie —LaurieLoving

If you're talking about the aquatic body works page, I added one for you. - Lori G

I am trying to add a new page and created a link on the Home Improvement & Repair page. My link shows up dashed and when I click on it, the page says type rdf:resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" /> and doesn't have any of the tabs or option buttons so I am unable to edit it CurtBorder

Hey Curt! The reason your link isn't showing up is that there's no page by that name. You can do a search with the search box in the upper right and see just that. If you want to create a page, click the create page link when doing a search. —PhilipNeustrom

Weird, weird, weird. Well, I'm of the view that if a problem can be worked around you might not need to know the cause. I've created the page Border Remodeling and Additions with a business template. Just replace all the generic stuff with stuff about the business and you should be, well, in business. —CovertProfessor

If you want to add your perspective, just click the "Edit" button and feel free to edit the entry itself. The Davis Wiki is composed of the views of everybody from Davis, so feel free to change anything (keeping in mind that you should usually leave room for other views as well). If you want to add a specific review or something else that is a specific incident where it makes sense to have a signed and dated story, you can still use the Edit button and add your contribution. However, if you want to add the comment feature to an entry because it makes sense (it is a place where reviews would be common, like a restaurant), hit "Edit", go to the bottom of the page, and add the text [[comments]]. You can even change what it says as a prompt by putting the text in parenthesis after the word comments, like this: [[comments(Add a Review Here!)]]. —jw

How can we get different searched keywords to bring up our page in the results? For example if someone searches our Fraternity's abbreviated name it will not show our page because it is under the full name. HELP!

2014-01-31 10:50:36 I used to work for a computer services company in Davis whose wiki entry went from bad to worse, filled with complaints and similar warnings. This was a few years ago, and I just happened to check the wiki entry again today. The entry has been reduced from a somewhat helpful set of questions to a basic set of contact information. Without the recommendations or concerns of others, what's the point of the wiki? —DavidBarnum

Not much point. What entry was it? It may well have been ninja-edited. -jw

Coulda been. I don't really want to say the name of this place, as I left a reasonably sticky situation. But there were valid complaints on there...maybe business picked back up after those were removed? —DavidBarnum

If you email me, I'll clean it up, and can even do so after some period of time so it's not obvious for you. But that kind of stuff really should be corrected. Are you sure the old comments weren't just archived? If so, there would be a link to the older comments right under (or sometimes over) the field to add a comment. -Evan 'JabberWokky' Edwards, jw.dw@timewarp.org (814) 889-8845

2014-07-21 13:06:26 How should a volunteer handle dead links that point offsite? —buley

What I have done in the past is to look for where the dead link was headed and for what information content the link was supposed to provide. Has the destination website rebuilt and re-coded its structure? Can I find the equivalent information on a current page? If so, delete the old link and replace it with a new link. This situation is one of the reasons that the Wiki tries to interlink as much as possible and avoid being a waystation for redirects. If it's a dead link and you can't find an updated equivalent, consider adding "(dead link as of Year Month Date)" after the link in question. That keeps the information intact and flags the link for future review. —JudithTruman

2015-07-25 13:11:54 I'm having the hardest time adding a Comments section to a page I just made. I moved out of Davis to Seattle and am trying to get the ball rolling on having the wiki work up here (it was so helpful while I was in Davis!). I've tried to add the [[Comments]] as well as tried adding the following code:

Add a Review:

What am I doing wrong? It doesn't appear on the page at all.. The page I'm editing is the Pink Gorilla page, if you want to look at it. If someone is able to help me out I'd really appreciate it. I want to make it so that this great resource can be used in Seattle. —JamesTeeples

2015-07-25 13:12:45 That's really ironic that the code works in this section, but I can't get it to work on the Pink Gorilla page I'm trying to edit! —JamesTeeples